happy and prosperous news events along with blogging tips

Following the call given by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to prepare best designs for developing Vizag into a Smart City with public participation, the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) launched a design contest on ‘Make Your City Smart Vizag’ here on Friday.

Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Municipal Commissioner Praveen Kumar disclosed that all interested citizens, including students, architects, planners, technical experts, professionals and others, could participate in the contest and the Special Jury will announce the winners after examining the best entries.

The contest has two parts-Beach Road design and Vuda Park design. While the first prize for the Beach Road design contest is Rs 1.25 lakh, second prize Rs 75,000 and the third prize Rs 50,000, first prize for the Vuda Park design contest is Rs 75,000, second prize Rs 50,000 and third prize Rs 25,000.

He urged the people to participate in the contest for other details can log on to the website: www.mygov.in. The last date for uploading the designs is August 5, he added.

Smart Pulse SurveyPraveen Kumar disclosed that Smart Pulse Survey (SPS) is a massive parallel survey of all households aimed at securing required socio-economic data directly in digital form with online validations. He said the first phase of survey, which began on Friday, will last till July 30 and the second phase from August 6 to 15 and the number of households expected to be surveyed is nearly 5.3 lakh.

He said the field surveyors will register the data by accessing the relevant portal through a connected tablet and so mistakes will be minimised. Consolidation and analysis of the data will be completed within two weeks after completion of the field survey.

The SPS, he said, will ensure correctness of the data already seeded with Aadhaar to remove duplicate records, to remove the details of those expired and to create a self-consistent set of records in the form of AP State Socio-Economic Data Base (APSEDB).

They said they wanted to give a new lease of life to the patients by donating organs such as kidneys, liver and eyes. While liver and kidneys were received by Institute of Kidneys Disease and Research Centre, eyes were given to Lok Drashti Chakshu Bank.

Rotary Club Visakha Port City conducted a meeting for installation of new team on Saturday at Rotary Grandeur.

Speaking on the occasion, former District Governor Goli Bhaskar Rao gave details on the contribution of Rotary in pulse polio eradication. He installed club president V. Narayana Rao and secretary Y. Srinivasa Kumar.

Mr. Rao informed that this year the club was planning to install safe drinking water and hand wash facilities under Swachh Vidyalaya scheme in over 50 government schools in the district.

‘Expecting 3.5 cr. pilgrims for Pushkaram’

Priority at Krishna, Godavari confluence near Ibrahimpatnam

Irrigation Minister D. Umamaheswara Rao addressing the media on arrangements being made for the Pushkaram, in Vijayawada on Saturday. —Photo: Ch.Vijaya Bhaskar

Irrigation and Water Resources Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao said on Saturday that the arrangements for the Krishna Pushkaram were being to handle a massive crowd of 3.5 crore devotees during the 12-day festival.

The officials concerned had been instructed to complete arrangements by the end of July with due priority to facilities required for performance of religious duties and obsequies.

At a press conference here on Saturday, Mr. Umamaheswara Rao said the Tummalapalli Vari Kshetrayya Kalakshetram was being spruced up for hosting cultural events and its renovation work would be over by the month-end.

This historic community hall would occupy the centre-stage as far as the cultural programs were concerned.

Top priority was given to riverfront development at the point of confluence of the Krishna and the Godavari rivers at Ferry near Ibrahimpatnam. It would be a major attraction during the mega event.

The Irrigation Department had ensured that there would not be any problem for devotees in having the ceremonial dip as 2.06 tmcft of water at the K.L. Rao Sagar (Pulichintala) project would be stored.

A huge chunk of the devotees would congregate at Vijayawada though the event would be officially celebrated in Krishna, Guntur and Kurnool districts.

Krishna Pushkaram Special Officer B. Rajasekhar said the incident that happened at Rajahmundry during the Godavari Maha Pushkaram was studied and necessary safeguards were being put in place.

Krishna District Collector A. Babu said 36 Pushkar Nagars were being constructed and proper road connectivity to the railway station and Pandit Nehru Bus Station was being ensured.

Besides, temporary bus stops were being provided across the city. The Bhavani, Durga, Krishnaveni, Padmavati and the Punnami Ghats would take most of the rush of devotees. Arrangements were being made at Muktyala, Vedadri, Hamsaladeevi and Sagarasangamam.

Police Commissioner D. Gautam Sawang said about 17,000 police personnel would be deployed across the city for smooth conduct of the event.

This will enable us to lead a better life, they say

Computers are the eyes to the visually challenged persons and they must learn the skills of operating a computer for betterment of their life, said Naveen Kumar of Enable India.

He was addressing the valedictory of the three-week long computer workshop organised for students with visual impairment, on Saturday at Andhra Loyola College (ALC). Three of the visually challenged students K. Srinivas, Sai Vinayak and Prasanna Kumar demonstrated the method of using the computers using NVDA (NonVisual Desktop Access) software.

Sai Pawan Kumar, Joji and Satya Narayana Reddy shared their opinion on this workshop. The participants thanked the college management and Higher Education for the Persons with Special Needs (HEPSn) for their support and taking the lead in organising such events. The skills the students learnt through this workshop would enable them to lead a better life, they said.

Principal of ALC Fr. G.A.P. Kishore, appreciated the role played by HEPSn volunteers and declared that the ALC would support these activities rigorously.

Correspondent Fr. S. Raju said that the goal of education was not only to make the students academically bright but also to make them sensitive to people and enable them grow as value-based leaders. The project HEPSn contributed to this mission, he felt.

The HEPSn coordinator Sahaya Baskaran said cricket matches would be organised for the visually challenged students on Sundays as such activities would boost the morale of the students.

One of the students, Suvarchala, proposed the vote of thanks and participation certificates were given to students as well as volunteers who supported this project. The whole programme was anchored and conducted by the visually challenged students of ALC.